Zoysiagrass plant named ‘TD2013’

ABSTRACT

An asexually reproduced variety of perennial zoysiagrass with a unique combination of morphological characters including medium leaf texture, sparse inflorescence production, early spring greenup and good canopy color retention in the fall.

Latin name of the genus and species of the plant claimed: The present invention relates to the genus and species Zoysia matrella (L.) Merr.

Variety denomination: ‘TD2013’.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

“Not Applicable”

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

“Not Applicable”

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a new and distinct asexually reproduced variety of perennial zoysiagrass (Zoysia matrella (L.)) Merr.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a new and distinct perennial zoysiagrass cultivar identified as ‘TD2013’ zoysiagrass (herein referred to as ‘TD2013’). The inventors, Milton C. Engelke and Virginia G. Lehman discovered ‘TD2013’ under cultivated conditions in turf plantings near Lebanon, Oreg. ‘TD2013’ was identified in year 2013 as a distinctly different vegetative patch or clonal plant differing from the surrounding plants in zoysiagrass variety trials. ‘TD2013’ showed less seedheads than ‘Diamond’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,636), and both earlier greenup in the spring, and longer color retention in the fall than ‘Diamond’. The inventors asexually reproduced ‘TD2013’ by taking vegetative cuttings of stolons and rhizomes, cutting the rhizomes and stolons into segments, each with a vegetative bud, and rooting them in potting media. ‘TD2013’ zoysiagrass will be used as a turfgrass suitable for home lawns, sports fields, golf courses, and soil stabilization.

For purposes of registration under the “International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants” (generally known by its French acronym as the UPOV Convention) and noting Section 1612 of the Manual of Plant Examining Procedure, it is proposed that the title of the invention is Zoysiagrass plant named ‘TD2013’.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS

FIG. 1. Tiller of ‘TD2013’ zoysiagrass.

FIG. 2. Inflorescence of ‘TD2013’ zoysiagrass.

COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIETY

‘TD2013’ was characterized in greenhouse and field conditions. ‘TD2013’ is a unique variety of zoysiagrass (Zoysia matrella (L.)) Merr. that was discovered under cultivated conditions.

The inventors, Milton C. Engelke and Virginia G. Lehman, discovered ‘TD2013’ near Lebanon, Oreg. in turf plantings designed to identify strengths, weaknesses, and purity of zoysiagrass experimental lines. In 2011, Milton C. Engelke visited a cemetery near Buford, S.C., and obtained several vegetative samples of what appeared to be strains of two to three different zoysiagrasses. The parents of the collected strains are unknown.

The vegetative samples were planted in Lebanon, Oreg., and based on the distinction of propagules from one of the samples, ‘TD2013’ was identified in year 2013 as a distinctly different vegetative patch or clonal plant. ‘TD2013’ showed less seedheads than ‘Diamond’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,636) and both earlier greenup in the spring, and longer color retention in the fall than ‘Diamond’. The notable early spring greenup of ‘TD2013’ and the extended fall color rentention are unique in the zoysiagrasses known to this time. The plants were evaluated in Oregon in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 8b. The inventors asexually reproduced ‘TD2013’ in Lebanon, Oreg. by taking vegetative cuttings of stolons and rhizomes, cutting the rhizomes and stolons into segments, each with a vegetative bud, and rooting them in potting media. Planting of the rooted material provided planting stock for studying performance and for comparison of morphological characters after propagation. ‘TD2013’ has been propagated by rhizomes, stolons, tillers, and sod.

Asexually reproduced plants of ‘TD2013’ have remained stable and true to type through successive generations of propagation. No seedling establishment from ‘TD2013’ has been noticed in either greenhouse or field studies.

‘TD2013’ is a perennial zoysiagrass that spreads by both stolons and rhizomes. Characteristics of ‘TD2013’ measured in 2015 were taken from plants that were approximately 8 months in age. The greenhouse was located near Lebanon, Oreg., with a nighttime low temperature of 50 degrees F., and daytime high of 80 degrees F., and a minimum soil temperature of 77 degrees F. The plants were grown under natural day length without supplemental lighting. The plants were fertilized with the equivalent of 1 pound of actual N per month, using a soluble fertilizer of 20-20-20 in four equal soluble applications per month.

‘TD2013’ has a medium leaf texture, with a wider leaf than ‘Diamond’ (Table 1).

‘TD2013’ has a few sparse long leaf hairs, in contrast to ‘Zorro’(U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,130) which has many leaf surface hairs (Table 2). ‘TD2013’ has shown color ratings in early spring in California higher than ‘Zorro’ (Table 4), but not different from ‘Zorro’ when rated in September.

‘TD2013’ has not shown susceptibility to the zoysiagrass mite when tested at Poteet, Tex., where susceptible varieties have shown the coachwhip leaf symptoms of the mite.

TD2013 has shown susceptibility to cool-season brown patch disease (Rhizoctonia sp.) when grown near Oxnard, Calif. ‘TD2013’ has shown good turfgrass performance and temperature adaptation when tested as far north as Willamette River Valley of western Oreg., USDA hardiness zone 8b, which would extend the area of adaptation for ‘TD2013’ into the central transition zone including Oklahoma, southern Illinois and Indiana, and south through Mexico. ‘TD2013’ will be limited only by winter survival in colder regions, and has shown good winter survival in field plantings in Oregon during the winter of 2013-14 and 2014-15. ‘TD2013’ is similar to most medium textured zoysiagrasses in water use demands as shown in test situations in Lebanon, Oreg., compared to ‘Cavalier’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,778), ‘Zorro’, and ‘Diamond’. ‘TD2013’ is adapted from sandy to heavier loam soil textures and from slightly acid to slightly alkaline soil pH.

TABLE 1 Leaf blade widths and lengths and texture class of selected zoysiagrass cultivars, measured under greenhouse conditions in Lebanon, OR, 2015. Length, Width, 2nd 2nd youngest youngest Leaf crown crown Texture leaf leaf Class Variety cm mm Rating ‘TD2013’ 3.3 1.9 Medium ‘Diamond’ 3.3 1.5 Fine

TABLE 2 Adaxial leaf hair presence or absence of selected zoysiagrass cultivars, measured under greenhouse conditions in Lebanon, OR, 2015. Leaf hair, adaxial Presence/ Variety Number ‘TD2013’ Sparse ‘Diamond’ Absent ‘Zorro’ Many

TABLE 3 Stolon characters of ‘TD2013’, measured under greenhouse conditions in Lebanon, OR, 2015. Thickness Thickness Stolon Stolon 1^(st) 2nd Internode Internode Stolon youngest youngest length, 1^(st) length, Internode stolon stolon to 2^(nd) 2nd to 3^(rd) length, 3rd node node node node to 4th node Variety mm mm cm cm cm ‘TD2013’ 0.9 1.05 0.73 0.85 0.83

TABLE 4 Turf quality ratings taken February 2016 in Oxnard, CA. Turf mowed at fairway heights. Variety Color {circumflex over ( )} Quality # ‘TD2013’ 4.7 5.7 ‘Zeon’ 4.3 2.3 Zorro’ 2.3 1.3 CV 32 21 Lsd, p = 0.05 1.88 2.3 {circumflex over ( )} Color rated on a scale of 1-9, 9 = darkest green. # Quality rated on a scale of 1-9, 9 = best quality.

TABLE 5 Turf quality ratings taken in September in Oxnard, CA in 2016. Turf mowed at fairway heights. Variety Color {circumflex over ( )} Smoothness # ‘TD2013’ 7.3 5.7 ‘Zeon’ 6.7 6.7 Zorro’ 7.3 7 CV 9.3 31 Lsd, p = 0.05 1.1 2.4 {circumflex over ( )} Color rated on a scale of 1-9, 9 = darkest green. # Smoothness rated on a scale of 1-9, 9 = most smooth.

TABLE 6 Spring Greenup and Fall Color ratings taken near Lebanon, OR, in 2013-14 and 2014-2015. Early spring Mid-Spring Fall Color greenup greenup Retention Variety rating {circumflex over ( )} rating rating # ‘TD2013’ 4 9 5 ‘Diamond’ 1 4 1 ‘Zorro’ 1 3 1 {circumflex over ( )} Greenup rated on a scale of 1-9, 9 = earliest greenup; Early date = approximately 3rd week in March. Mid-spring rated in mid-April. # Fall color retention rated on a scale of 1-9, 9 = green longer in the fall.

COMPLETE BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIETY

-   Origin: ‘TD2013’ is a cultivar of a single clone of zoysiagrass     discovered under cultivated conditions in a Lebanon, Oreg. planting     of zoysiagrass variety and experimental plots, with some of the     plots derived from a collection of vegetative plugs from a cemetery     near Buford, S.C. The parents of the collected plugs are unknown.     ‘TD2013’ was identified in year 2013 as a distinctly different     vegetative patch or clonal plant. ‘TD2013’ differed from the     surrounding plants in less seedheads than ‘Diamond’ (U.S. Plant Pat.     No. 10,636) when tested in Oregon, and both earlier spring greenup     and fall color retention than surrounding grasses. TD2013 has shown     to produce a prolific number of seedheads in the Fall of the year     when grown near Oxnard, Calif., latitude of 34.2. -   Classification: Zoysia matrella (L.) Merr. -   Growth habit: ‘TD2013’ is a perennial plant that spreads by stolons     and rhizomes and produces a dense, fine textured turfgrass. Seldom     producing an inflorescence in Oregon, the inflorescence of ‘TD2013’     is a terminal spike-like raceme, with spikelets on short pedicels. -   Leaf blade: Rolled in the bud, flat surface. -   Leaf blade pubescence: Very sparse, adaxial, occasional long hairs,     mostly 1 to 1.25 mm long, but up to 1.5 mm in length. -   Leaf margin pubescence: Barbellate margins, up to 0.05 mm long, with     a frequency of 4 per mm. ‘Diamond’ has some barbellate margin to a     very small degree, but not as prominent or regular as ‘TD2013’,     occurring every 2.5 mm in distance along the leaf. -   Leaf sheath pubescence: Absent except for long hairs at mouth of     sheath, and a ring of short hairs inside the sheath where it     attaches to the stem; ‘TD2013’ mean length sheath mouth hairs at     side of sheath: mostly 1 mm, few at 2.1 mm, and seldom up to 2.5 mm;     inside sheath ring of hairs: 0.2 mm. -   Leaf blade margin: ‘TD2013’=slight roughness; -   Leaf blade veins: Prominent. -   Leaf blade flexibility (softness): Medium stiff compared to     ‘Diamond’ with a stiff leaf. -   Vegetative leaf, 2nd youngest vegetative leaf:     -   -   Blade length range.—‘TD2013’: 3.1 to 3.5 cm, mean length:             3.3 cm.         -   Blade width mean.—‘TD2013’: 1.5 mm to 2.3 mm, mean width:             1.9 mm. -   Sheath length, 4^(th) youngest vegetative leaf:     -   -   Mean length ‘TD2013’.—23 mm. -   Stolon leaf angle, third youngest leaf: ‘TD2013’: 85; ‘Diamond’: 52     (by reference). -   Inflorescence characters:     -   -   Culm total length, including floral area to node below flag             leaf.—58 mm. Length of stem of inflorescence: 44 mm. Floral             area length: 14 mm.         -   Culm width, stem thickness, base of floral area.—0.55 mm.         -   Anther length.—1.2 mm.         -   Floret (seed) length.—Range 2.5 to 2.75 mm.         -   Floret (seed) width.—Mean of 0.7 to 0.8 mm.         -   Pedicel length.—2.0 mm.         -   Flag leaf length.—‘TD2013’: 5 mm.         -   Flag leaf width.—‘TD2013’: 0.95 mm. -   Mature plant height, unmown in greenhouse, vegetative leaves (not     including inflorescence):     -   -   ‘TD2013’.—4.5 cm; compared to ‘Diamond’ at 9 cm. -   Mowing height as turf: Optimum height, field trials, ‘TD2013’: 12 to     90 mm; Diamond: 3-13 mm. -   Color notations, vegetative characters, based on The R.H.S. Colour     Chart (light quality, photoperiod, and general growth of the plants     affect color notations):     -   -   Leaf blade color adaxial leaf surface.—137 C green.         -   Leaf blade color abaxial leaf surface.—137C green.         -   Stolon color.—159 B orange-white, 138 B green. -   Color notations, floral characters, based on The R.H.S. Colour Chart     (light quality, photoperiod, and general growth of the plants affect     color notations):     -   -   Culm stalk.—144 A yellow-green.         -   Stigma.—158 B greyed yellow white.         -   Anthers, mature, dried.—160 B greyed yellow with 187 A             greyed purple. -   Turf quality in August (rated 1-9, 9 best), Lebanon, Oreg: ‘TD2013’:     6; ‘Zorro’: 5.

REFERENCES CITED U.S. Patent Documents

November, 2002 Doguet, D. U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,166. ‘Zeon’ zoysiagrass

July, 1997 Engelke, M. C. U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,778. ‘Cavalier’ zoysiagrass

October, 1998 Engelke, M. C. U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,636. ‘Diamond’ zoysiagrass

July, 2002 Engelke, M. C. U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,130. ‘Zorro’ zoysiagrass 

We claim:
 1. A new and distinct variety of zoysiagrass plant, substantially as described and illustrated herein, characterized particularly by a unique combination of morphological characters. 